Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ManueB]

I want to chime in about the donkeys, but my phone's screen keeps bugging .
I'll try again.
I told my neighbor's donkey's story before here .
I know you really liked them despite the story @RoyalChick .
Since then I've also posted a picture of a mini donkey, Popeye, the small friend they got for See you the Arabian horse.
He has been a huge pain in their b... as well! He kept jumping electric nettings and running around his neighbours, the highland cows, getting them all worked up. He is impossible to catch.

So beware that donkeys will require almost as much education as an LGD. Of course they would be less dangerous to your chickens if it failed...and btw you need two at least, you can't keep a lone donkey!
*******
I also have a mug from yesterday of Blanche, and with the mug I'm asking for advice. She has had a small zit on her ear from before the hawk attack, since the 29 th of December. It was so small I didn't put anything on it, but it's not going away and if anything, it's actually bigger. It's soft and slightly warm to the touch. I don't have any antibiotic : I have alcohol, peroxide, betadine, and a generic human disinfectant. Do you believe I should use any of those ?

And here is why I'm not taking mugs today...

 

[RoyalChick]

I want to chime in about the donkeys, but my phone's screen keeps bugging .
I'll try again.
I told my neighbor's donkey's story before here .
I know you really liked them despite the story @RoyalChick .
Since then I've also posted a picture of a mini donkey, Popeye, the small friend they got for See you the Arabian horse.
He has been a huge pain in their b... as well! He kept jumping electric nettings and running around his neighbours, the highland cows, getting them all worked up. He is impossible to catch.
View attachment 3376725
So beware that donkeys will require almost as much education as an LGD. Of course they would be less dangerous to your chickens if it failed...and btw you need two at least, you can't keep a lone donkey!
*******
I also have a mug from yesterday of Blanche, and with the mug I'm asking for advice. She has had a small zit on her ear from before the hawk attack, since the 29 th of December. It was so small I didn't put anything on it, but it's not going away and if anything, it's actually bigger. It's soft and slightly warm to the touch. I don't have any antibiotic : I have alcohol, peroxide, betadine, and a generic human disinfectant. Do you believe I should use any of those ?

View attachment 3376728
View attachment 3376724
And here is why I'm not taking mugs today...
View attachment 3376726

Thank you for the donkey warning. It is probably too much for me to take on but I will give it serious thought. The difference for me from a LGD is that I like donkeys whereas am a bit fearful of dogs - so the work to put in to donkeys would be more pleasurable.
But itbwould need infrastructure and skills I don’t have - like dealing with their feet.
On Blanche’s pimple I would be inclined to try warm compresses. Which is a fancy word for a hot wet towel held on it for a few minutes. With luck it will resolve itself without more invasive measures. I wouldn’t bother with the antiseptics at this stage - the infection is already in there - but you will need them if you end up needing to cut it open.
I remember we talked about drawing salves a while ago - did you ever get any? That would be my next step after hot compresses.

 

[BY Bob]

Good morning! View attachment 3376721Are you awake now?View attachment 3376722We're coming for you...
View attachment 3376723We're really coming for treats!

Good morning!

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you for the donkey warning. It is probably too much for me to take on but I will give it serious thought. The difference for me from a LGD is that I like donkeys whereas am a bit fearful of dogs - so the work to put in to donkeys would be more pleasurable.
But itbwould need infrastructure and skills I don’t have - like dealing with their feet.
On Blanche’s pimple I would be inclined to try warm compresses. Which is a fancy word for a hot wet towel held on it for a few minutes. With luck it will resolve itself without more invasive measures. I wouldn’t bother with the antiseptics at this stage - the infection is already in there - but you will need them if you end up needing to cut it open.
I remember we talked about drawing salves a while ago - did you ever get any? That would be my next step after hot compresses.

I agree with this. Although i wish you luck holding a warm compress on her ear for an extended period of time.

 

[RoyalChick]

I agree with this. Although i wish you luck holding a warm compress on her ear for an extended period of time.

She might like it - comforting maybe? And it only needs a minute or two at a time, repeated several times a day.

 

[RoyalChick]

She might like it - comforting maybe? And it only needs a minute or two at a time, repeated several times a day.

So I researched chicken abscesses and chicken pus (because that is what I like to do while eating my breakfast!). I know in bumble foot the pus becomes solid which is why it needs to be cut out. I had assumed that was the result of some mechanical process because the chicken walked on its infected foot.
Not so.
Chicken pus all over the body forms a cheese-like substance that does not easily get resorbed or drain like you would see in mammals. This is due to a different make-up of chicken pus from mammalian pus. I seriously am a geek.
Anyway the eye tends to have more liquid pus than other parts of a chicken (no idea why and nor did the researchers) but it suggests that if compresses and drawing salves don't work it may need to be excised like a bumble on the foot.
Chickens are weird.

 

[ValarieF]

I feel so much better this morning. Boy is it cold out gonna let it warm up a little before I let the chooks out.

 

[RoyalChick]

I feel so much better this morning. Boy is it cold out gonna let it warm up a little before I let the chooks out.

Glad you are feeling better

 

[Ponypoor]

Nope on the Emu, have you met Karen? Tiktok search Useless Farms. That will Emu will cure you of any desire to get those fairly quickly. The males dance moves are hysterical however if getting a Karen is even possible and clearly it is, I have to say hard oh heck no.
Emu tax
View attachment 3376623

I will see if I can find it.

That gal is such a beauty! I was trying to decide if she had some feathers on the legs?

 

[Ponypoor]

I feel so much better this morning. Boy is it cold out gonna let it warm up a little before I let the chooks out.

Glad you're feeling better today.

Here is a smile for you - Curly dreaming of excaping!